SPEECH 


MR.  POTTER, .OF  OHIO 


ON  THE 

♦ 

# 

V  '  .  '  ■'  0  / 

REDUCTION  OF  POSTAGE. 


DELIVERED 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY  13,  1951 


WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED  AT  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  GLOBE  OFFICE. 

1851. 


REDUCTION.  OP  POSTAGE. 


The  House  having  resolved  itself  into  Committee  y 
of  the  Whole  on  the  bill  to  reduce  and  modify  i 
the  rates  of  postage, 

Mr.  POTTER  rose  and  said  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  In  answer  to  the  various  ob¬ 
jections  which  have  been  made  by  various  mem¬ 
bers  at  different  times  to  this  bill,  it  becomes  me 
to  investigate  the  subject  by  facts  and  figures,  in 
order  to  obviate  them.  It  is  for  this  reason,  and 
that  I  may  be  prepared  to  maintain  every  position 
which  I  have  assumed,  to  fortify  every  point  which 
has  been  attacked,  that  much  of  what  I  shall  have 
to  say  will  be  from  written  memorandums.  And 
for  their  correctness  and  truth  I  am  responsible. 

I  will  take  occasion  at  the  commencement  to 
say,  that  those  gentlemen  upon  this  floor  who  are 
most  decidedly  opposed  to  this  bill,  and  who  rep¬ 
resent  States,  whose  receipts  for  postage  does  not 
equal  the  expenditure  for  mail  service  in  them, 
have  exhibited  a  modesty  truly  becoming  to  them ; 
for  whilst,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  they  have 
remained  silent  during  this  whole  discussion,  their 
allies  from  States  where  there  is  a  surplus  have 
maintained  the  controversy.  But  I  fear  that  when 
we  come  to  vote  upon  the  bill,  they  will  make 
themselves  felt,  if  they  have  not  been  heard. 

The  receipts  from  postage  in  Maine  exceed  the 


cost  of  transportation . $50,000 

New  Hampshire,  over .  20,000 

Vermont,  “  18,000 

Massachusetts,  “  . 180,000 

Rhode  Island,  “  .  20,000 

Connecticut,  “  .  40,000 

New  York,  “  . 460,000 

Pennsylvania,  “  . . 200,000 

Ohio,  “  80,000 

Wisconsin,  *  25,000 

Iowa,  “  2,000 


It  is  from  these  States  that  we  naturally  look 
for  support  to  this  bill;  and  from  the  immense 
number  of  petitions  which  have  been  received 
here  from  those  States,  without  one  single  remon¬ 
strance  from  any  quarter,  we  feel  assured  that  the 
people  are  in  favor  of  the  change  proposed.  We 
who  live  in  the  paying  States,  do  not  complain  that 
this  large  amount  of  surplus  is  drawn  from  us  for 
the  support  of  the  mail  service  in  the  less  favored 
portions  of  the  Union.  We  do  not  desire  that  it 


should  be  otherwise,  but  we  do  insist  that  the 
rates  of  postage  should  be  reduced  to  a  revenue 
standard,  so  long  as  we  contribute  so  large  a  share 
of  the  means  to  support  this  department  of  the 
Government. 

I  am  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  gentlemen  upon 
this  floor,  who  represent  States  yielding  a  surplus 
to  the  Post  Office  Department,  even  some  of  my 
colleagues  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  which  pays 
more  than  $80,000  over  her  cost  of  transportation, 
into  the  Treasury,  opposing  this  bill.  They  must 
certainly  have  become  very  benevolent  all  at  once, 
to  be  willing  to  tax  themselves  and  their  constitu¬ 
ents,  to  afford  postal  facilities  to  their  neighbors. 

Mr.  CARTTER  asked  if  the  gentleman  inclu¬ 
ded  him  in  the  number  of  his  colleagues  who  op¬ 
posed  a  reduction  of  postage  ? 

Mr.  POTTER  said  he  did  mean  to  include  him 
[Mr.  Cartter]  in  the  number. 

Mr.  CARTTER.  Will  the  gentleman  allowme 
to  say  that  he  has  mistaken  my  intentions?  I 
am  in  favor  of  a  reduction  of  the  rate  of  postage 
from  ten  cents  to  a  uniform  rate  of  five  cents. 

Mr.  POTTER.  I  was  aware  of  that.  The 
gentleman’s  amendment  will  speak  for  itself;  it 
provides  for  a  uniform  rate  of  five  cents  for  all  dis¬ 
tances.  Sir,  it  is  the  result  of  the  gentleman’s 
proposition  that  I  wish  to  avoid.  Adopt  it,  and 
instead  of  a  reduction  of  postage,  it  would  operate 
only  as  a  reduction  of  revenue.  Four  fifths  of  the 
letters  now  carried  in  the  mail  pay  only  five  cents; 
it  is  only  those  letters  carried  over  three  hundred 
miles  that  pay  ten  cents.  My  object  is,  so  to  re¬ 
duce  the  postage  upon  all  mailable  matter  as  to 
compete  with  the  private  expresses  upon  the  short 
routes.  The  gentleman’s  amendment  will  not 
effect  that  object.  It  affords  encouragement  to  the 
increase  of  letters  upon  the  short  routes,  or  those 
less  than  three  hundred  miles,  from  which  nearly 
all  our  revenue  is  derived.  Private  expresses’  do 
not  enter  into  competition  with  the  Post  Office  De¬ 
partment  upon  the  long  routes,  and  upon  these  the 
gentleman’s  plan  would  certainly  operate  injuri¬ 
ously  to  the  revenue,  whilst  it  would  produce  no 
change  in  the  receipts  upon  the  short  routes. 

Mr.  CARTTER.  I  dislike  exceedingly  to  in¬ 
terrupt  my  friend,  but  if  he  will  allow  me,  I  wish 
to  submit  to  him  and  to  the  House,  whether,  after 


4 


the  amendment  I  offered,  and  after  the  remarks  I 
submitted  on  a  former  day  in  reference  to  this  bill, 
the  gentleman  is  authorized  in  coming  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  I  am  opposed  to  reducing  the  rates  of 
postage  down  to  a  revenue  standard?  I  stated  ex¬ 
pressly  in  my  remarks,  that  I  was  in  favor  of  re¬ 
ducing  the  rates  of  postage  to  a  revenue  standard. 
I  thi^k  my  colleague  does  me  injustice  in  coming 
to  the  conclusion  he  does  in  this  matter. 


Mr.  POTTER.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  do  my 
colleague  no  injustice;  for  whilst  I  must  be  allowed 
to  comment  upon  his  proposition,  I  will  certainly 
Ktate  it  fairly.  He  says  a  uniform  rate  of  five 
cents  is  a  revenue  rate.  I  was  only  endeavoring 
to  show  that  the  proposition,  if  adopted,  would 
only  tend  to  diminish  the  revenue  without  accom¬ 
plishing  the  great  end  in  view,  the  cheap  circula¬ 
tion  of  valuable  information  in  every  part  of  the 
country. 

I  repeat,  that  the  great  object  in  reducing  the 
postage  upon  short  routes,  is  to  bring  into  the  mail 
the  matter  notv  carried  by  private  expresses,  as 
well  as  to  encourage  the  more  general  use  of  the 
mails,  where  they  are  now  avoided  on  account  of 
the  high  rate  upon  letters. 

Mr.  CARTTER.  Is  my  colleague  informed  of 
the  existence  of  any  private  expresses  in  the 
vicinity  of  any  of  the  cities  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  or 
in  any  western  city  ? 

Mr.  POTTER.  I  am  not.  I  will  ask  my  col¬ 
league,  whether  he  is  informed  of  the  existence  of 
such  expresses  in  the  eastern  cities  ? 

Mr.  CARTTER.  I  am  aware  that  private  ex¬ 
presses  exist  in  those  cities. 


Air.  POTTER.  It  is  with  these  that  we  wish 
to  compete,  by  putting  the  rates,  not  as  low  as 
they  carry  letters,  for  I  believe  they  only  charge 
two  cents,  but  at  such  rates  as  will  tend  to  dis¬ 
courage  their  use. 

But  to  resume  the  subject.  It  is  objected  also, 
that  the  Postmaster  General  will  not  grant  mail 
facilities,  or  service  upon  routes  on  which  there  is 
not  revenue  derived  sufficient  to  pay  the  expenses. 
Can  this  be  true?  By  the  adoption  of  this  rule, 

Maryland  would  have  to  be  curtailed  over  $30,000 

Virginia,  over .  60,000 

North  Carolina,  over .  110,000 

South  Carolina,  over .  40,000 

Georgia,  over .  60,000 

Florida,  over . 15,000 

Illinois,  over .  40,000 

Tennessee,  over .  10,000 

Alabama,  over .  8C>’000 

Mississippi,  over .  25,000 

Arkansas,  over . 30’000 

Texas,  over .  30,000 


for  each  of  these  States  fall  short  the  above  sums, 
of  revenue  sufficient  to  pay  barely  the  costs  of 
transportation  of  their  mails,  to  say  nothing  about 
the  commissions  paid  to  their  postmasters . 

.  Mr.  HAMMOND  asked,  whether  in  this  esti¬ 
mate  the  transportation  of  the  mail  through  Mary¬ 
land,  &c. ,  upon  the  great  southern  route  to  New 
Orleans,  was  embraced  ? 

Mr.  POTTER.  I  will  do  these  States  justice 
in  this  respect,  if  the  gentleman  will  only  have 
patience.  But  we  do  not  ask  to  have  this  rule  ap¬ 
plied  to  these  States.  We  protest  against  it,  and 
it  is  unfair  to  charge  that  such  a  rule  has  been 
adopted  by  the  Department.  It  is  true,  that  it  is 
a  strong  argument  against  putting  increased  service 


upon  a  route,  but  I  deny  that  it  is  any  part  or  par^ 
cel  of  the  regulations  of  the  Department. 

Mr.  SWEETSER  desired  to  know  of  his  col¬ 
league  whether  there  were  not  post  roads  in  Ohio 
upon  which  no  service  had  been  ordered  by  the 
Department  ? 

Mr.  POTTER.  There  may  be,  particularly 
upon  the  routes  established  last  September;  and 
perhaps  some  others  where  there  had  been  no 
competition  in  the  bids  for  the  service,  and  those 
that  were  made  were  so  exorbitantly  high  that  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  ask  for  service  at  such 
rates.  But  I  regard  the  Post  Office  Department  as 
a  branch  of  the  National  Government,  necessarily 
so  for  the  connection  and  continuance  of  routes: 
as  one  of  the  conditions  in  the  bond  of  our  Union, 
strengthening  its  ties  by  a  common  interest,  and 
should  be  managed  as  a  whole,  regardless  of  local 
divisions,  any  further  than  they  may  be  necessary 
for  the  promotion  of  the  general  welfare  of  the 
people  of  the  whole  country. 

But,  sir,  I  have  been  treating  this  subject  as  if 
the  awful  forebodings  of  the  timid  and  wavering 
upon  this  floor,  of  broken-down  stage  coaches, 
lean  horses,  hungry  drivers,  deserted  towns  and 
villages,  grass-grown  streets,  lean  and  starved 
postmasters,  and  worst  of  all,  a  bankrupt  Treas¬ 
ury,  were  about  to  be  realized. 

I  have  a  word  of  comfort  for  that  class  of  our 
friends.  Aly  colleague  who  first  addressed  the 
committee  upon  this  subject,  [Mr.  Cartter,]  de¬ 
clared  that  the  effect  of  a  reduction  of  postage 
would  be  “to  reduce  the  Post  Office  Department 
to  a  state  of  bankruptcy.  ”  Aly  friend  says  that 
he  has  come  to  this  conclusion  “from  the  little 
examination  he  has  been  able  to  give  this  sub¬ 
ject.”  I  am  sorry,  for  the  sake  of  the  measure, 
that  that  gentleman  has  not  brought  his  usual  in¬ 
dustry  and  acumen  to  the  task  of  this  examina¬ 
tion,  for  I  feel  quite  sure  that  had  he  done  so  we 
should  find  in  him  one  of  the  strongest  advocates 
of  this  bill. 

Another  of  my  colleagues  [Air.  Sweetser] 
says  that,  this  measure  will  ultimately  charge  the 
Post  Office  Department  upon  the  Treasury;  but 
he  gives  no  reasons  for  it.  He  says,  also,  that 
allusion  has  been  made  to  the  English  system,  but 
he  does  not  intend  to  discuss  that,  and  dismisses 
the  subject  by  saying,  “  1  will  state,  in  general 
terms,  that  we  cannot  assimilate  ours  to  theirs, 
and  no  legitimate  argument  can  be  drawn  from 
it.”  I  might  say  of  him,  as  I  have  already  done 
of  my  other  colleague,  that  I  am  sorry,  for  the 
fate  of  this  bill,  that  he  had  not  looked  at  the  re¬ 
ports  of  the  British  Post  Office  Department. 

Mr.  SWEETSER.  In  my  argument  the  other 
day,  I  gave  as  a  reason  why  the  rate  proposed  in 
this  bill  was  below  the  revenue  standard,  that  the 
bill  itself  asked  for  a  million  and  a  half - 

Mr.  POTTER.  I  do  #not  want  the  gentleman 
to  make  his  speech  over  again;  I  cannot  spare  the 
time  allotted  me  by  the  rules  of  the  House;  he 
can  read  it  in  the  Globe.  He  spoke  at  length,  and 
was  complimented  by  the  very  general  attention 
of  the  committee.  This  should  satisfy  my  friend 
without  my  now  giving  him  an  opportunity  to  re¬ 
peat  it.  I  am  sorry,  however,  that  he  has  given 
this  subject  so  little  attention.  Had  he  devoted  a 
little  more  time  to  it  I  do  not  doubt  that  instead  of 
his  opposition,  this  measure  would  to-day  have 
his  warmest  support. 

My  colleague  [Mr.  Sweetser]  challenges  me 
to  bring  forward  my  facts  and  figures  to  show  that 


5 


the  reduction  of  postage  will  not  bankrupt  the  De¬ 
partment.  . 

I  propose  now  to  do  it.  I  regret  the  necessity  |j 
that  I  am  under  to  vindicate  the  measure  here  upon 
this  floor,  and  to  spend  the  time  of  the  committee 
upon  it;  but  what  I  say  is  said  for  the  ear  of  mem¬ 
bers,  with  the  hope  that  those  who  are  not  preju¬ 
diced  against  the  bill,  but  are  anxious  to  adopt,  as 
they  say,  “  a  revenue  point,”  will  listen,  if  they 
have  not  examined  the  subject  themselves,  to  the 
facts  that  I  intend  to  lay  before  the  committee. 

This  subject  has  been  so  fully  elaborated  by  the  j 
gentleman  from  Missouri,  [Mr.  Phelps,]  that  I 
will  not  trouble  the  committee  with  the  details  of 
our  own  or  the  British  Post  Office,  but  will  state 
the  general  results: 


Statistics  of  the  .American  Post  Office  for  ten  years. 


Y  ears. 

Post 

otiic’s 

Post 

roads. 

Receipts. 

Expenses. 

Letters. 

1839  . 

1840  . 

'1841 . 

!  1 842 . 

{1843 . 

iI84# . 

1845 . 

j 1 846 . 

1847 . 

|1848 . 

11849 . 

12,680 

13,468 

13,682 

13,733 

13.814 

14'103 

14,183 

14,601 

15,146 

16,159 

16,747 

Miles. 

133,999 

155,639 

155.026 

149,732 

142,295 

144,687 

143,844 

147,679 

153,818 

163,208 

167,703 

$4,477,619 
4,530,265 
4,379,317 
4,546,246 
4,295,925 
4,237,285 
4,289,841 
3,487,199 
3^945.893 
4,37li077 
4,705',  176 

$4,654,718 

4,759,110 

4,567,228 

4,627,716 

4,374,713 

4.320.731 

4.320.731 
4,084,296 
3,971,310 
4,326,850 
4,479,049 

27,535,554 

24,267,552 

52,173,480 

58.069,075 

62,000,000 

From  1839  to  1849  inclusive,  it.  is  seen  by  this 
table  that  under  the  old  high  rates  of  postage  in 
.1840,  the  number  of  letters  sent  through  the 
United  States  post  office  was  27, 535 ,554 — receipts 
<14,530,265;  and  there  was  a  constant  diminution 
of  letters  and  receipts  from  postages,  down  to 
1S43,  when  the  number  of  letters  had  run  down 
to  24,267,552 — revenue,  $4,295,225;  leaving,  in 
1843,  an  actual  deficit  in  the  department  of  $78,788; 
and  even  then,  as  now,  we  found  the  gentleman 
from  Indiana  [Mr.  Brown]  opposed  to  any  change; 
using  the  same  argument  then  as  now,  that  the 
Department  would  be  bankrupted  by  the  proposed 
reduction.  The  gentleman  says  he  lias  been  dis¬ 
appointed  in  the  result.  1  am  sure,  if  he  lives, 
and  the  present  proposed  reduction  takes  place, 
he  will  be  again  disappointed.  I  was  a  member 
of  this  House  in  1845,  when  the  reduction  was 
made,  and  voted  for  it.  That  gentleman  voted 
against  it.  We  have  both  been  disappointed. 
The  effect  upon  the  revenue  has  been  more  salu¬ 
tary  than  any  of  us  anticipated. 

Before  this  reduction  in  1845,  the  old  rates  were 
twenty-five  cents  on  the  single  letter  for  the  longest 
distance  and  six  and  a  quarter  cents  for  the  short¬ 
est.  We  changed  it  to  ten  and  five;  and  under 
the  operation  of  the  reduction  the  number  of  let¬ 
ters  increased  from  24,267,552  in  1843,  so  that  in 
1849  there  were  transported  over  62,000,000,  and 
the  revenue  in  the  same  period  had  increased 
from  $4,295,925  to  $4,705,176,  and  in  1850  to 
$5,552,971. 

The  Department  during  this  period  has  not  only 
sustained  itself,  but  it  has  carried  light,  truth  and 
happiness  to  millions  of  our  people,  who  under  our 
former  system  would  never  have  been  reached. 

Under  our  old  system,  the  Department  was  only 
known  to  the  people  by  the  exorbitance  of  its 
charges,  amounting  almost  to  oppression.  Under 
the  reduced  system  it  has  become  the  people’s 
friend,  and  is  respected  and  fostered  by  them. 
JNoWj  instead  of  efforts  to  defraud  the  Department 


of  its  legitimate  revenue,  you  find  an  interest 
everywhere  felt  in  its  maintenance.  This  is  really 
the  only  branch  of  the  General  Government  whose 
benefits  are  brought  to  the  door  of  every  citizen 
of  the  Union  every  day  of  his  life. 

The  gentleman  from  Indiana  [Mr.  Dunham] 
says  that  “any  argument  drawn  from  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  the  British  Post  Office,  in  support  of  a  re¬ 
duction  in  this  country,  is  fallacious.” 

Let  us  look  a  moment  into  it  and  see  whether 
he  is  right,  first  showing  the  results  of  the  reduc¬ 
tion.  The  postage  upon  all  half  ounce  letters  in 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  for  any 
distance,  is  one  penny,  equal  to  about  two  cents  of 
our  money.  In  1839,  the  last  year  of  their  high 
or  old  rates,  the  letters  transported  in  the  mail 
amounted  to  76,000,000.  In  1848,  under  the  re¬ 
duction,  347,000,000. 

In  1848,  the  gross  revenue  of  the  Department, 

including  everything,  was . <£2, 181, 016 

Cost  of  management . <£1, 196,520 

Cost  of  steam  and  packet 

service  added . 701,580 

-  1,898,100 


192,916 

Deduct  fees  for  registering  money  let¬ 
ters,  (not  embraced  in  our  system). . . .  56,000 

•  ■  ■  - 

And  there  is  still  a  surplus  of . <£216,916 

Over  one  million  of  dollars  in  the  Treasury;  and 
the  beauty  of  the  system  is,  that  the  revenue  is  in 
creasing  every  year  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the 
expenses.  It  has  been  claimed  by  the  opponents 
of  this  bill  that  the  money  order  office  in  Great 
Britain  was  a  source  of  revenue;  but  the  returns 
show  that,  the  commissions  in  1848  on  money 
orders  were  £67, 376,  whilst  the  expenses  of  that 
office  were  <£77,976,  being  an  actual  loss  to  the 
revenue  of  <£10,600. 

It  is  said  their  country  is  more  compact  than 
ours,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  and  manage¬ 
ment  are  less.  How  is  the  fact? 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  cost  of  management 
in  Great  Britain,  in  1848,  was  <£1,196,500 — equal  to 
about  $5,982,600;  whilst  in  this  country,  in  1850, 
the  expenditures  were  $5,212,953 — theirs  costing 
more  by  $779,627  than  ours.  These  are  some  of 
the  facts  and  figures  that  my  colleague  [Mr. 
Sweetser]  desired  me  to  produce  to  prove  rny 
position,  and  the  arguments  which  the  gentleman 
from  Indiana  [Mr.  Duniiam]  declares  to  be  so 
fallacious. 

Another  gentleman  from  Indiana,  [Mr.  Brown,] 
who  was  a  member  of  Congress  in  1845,  and 
voted  against  the  reduction,  objects  to  any  com¬ 
parison  of  a  cheap  system  of  postage  in  this  coun¬ 
try  to  that  of  Great  Britain,  because,  he  says, 
their  sources  of  revenue  are  more  numerous  than 
ours,  and  instances  the  registration  of  money  let¬ 
ters.  He  says,  too,  that  their  packet  service  is 
not  charged  to  the  Post  Office  Department.  He 
very  carefully  forgot  to  add,  that  whilst  we  receive 
$919,000  for  postage  on  newspapers  and  pam¬ 
phlets,  Great  Britain  receives  nothing,  the  post¬ 
age  being  embraced  in  stamp  duties,  and  going 
into  the  general  instead  of  the  Post  Office  revenue. 
But  I  have  shown  from  the  official  reports  of  the 
British  Post  Office,  that  after  adding  the  cost  of  the 

Sicket  service  to  the  expenses  of  the  Post  Office 
epartment,  and  after  deducting  from  the  general 
revenue  the  amount  which  he  says  arises  from 


6 


money  orders  and  the  registration  of  letters,  there 
is  still  a  surplus  left  to  the  credit  of  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  over  $1,000,000. 

But  I  have  said  before,  and  I  still  insist,  that  the 
reduction  in  this  country  will  enhance  the  revenue 
in  a  greater  degree  than  the  same  reduction  would 
in  England.  Our  people  are  educated,  are  migra¬ 
tory,  are  commercial.  We  have  a  vast  extent  of 
territory  constantly  filling  up  with  emigrants  from 
the  old  States;  and  the  associations  of  our  father- 
land  always  inspire  us  with  the  gift  and  the  desire 
to  write.  And  when  the  tax  upon  our  communi¬ 
cations  is  reduced  to  a  mere  nominal  sum,  every¬ 
body  that  can  write,  will  write. 

The  gentleman  from  Indiana  [Mr.  Brown]  is  mis¬ 
taken  in  his  views  in  regard  to  the  increase  of  clerk 
hire,  on  account  of  the  great  increase  of  the  number 
of  letters  to  be  mailed  and  delivered.  Every  post¬ 
master  knows  that  it  will  be  a  great  deal  less  labor 
to  make  out  and  enter  his  post  bills  with  one  rate, 
to  enter  hisn.ccount  of  mails  received,  and  to  make 
out  and  add  up  his  quarterly  returns,  than  where 
there  are  two  rates.  And  in  the  large  offices, 
where  the  very  best  and  highest  salaried  clerks  are 
employed  to  assort  the  letters  for  mailing,  where 
there  are  two  rates,  under  the  uniform  system, 
their  services  will  be  dispensed  with,  and  in  their 
places  any  common  laborer  who  cannot  even  read 
or  write,  will  stamp  and  prepare  all  letters  for 
mailing  with  the  utmost  ease.  This  simplifying 
of  the  accounts  will  dispense  with  much  of  the 
force  now  employed  in  the  different  post  offices,  by 
which  I  have  no  doubt  a  great  saving  will  result 
to  the  Department. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  free  circulation  of 
newspapers  in  the  counties  where  they  are  pub¬ 
lished.  But,  as  1  have  said  before,  I  am  satisfied 
that  where  the  postmaster  receives  no  compensa¬ 
tion  for  receiving  and  delivering  the  newspaper,  he 
will  be  very  likely  to  discourage  its  circulation,  at 
any  rate  through  the  mail;  but  where  he.  receives 
fifty  per  cent  ,  as  his  commission,  he  will  take 
some  pains  to  encourage  the  formation  of  clubs, 
for  the  mere  compensation  derived  from  commis¬ 
sions.  I  propose  that  papers  circulated  and  de¬ 
livered  in  the  State  where  printed,  shall  pay  one 
half  cent  for  each  number  not  weighing  over  two 
ounces,  and  out  of  the  State,  one  cent.  There  is 
some  propriety  in  this  distinction,  from  the  fact 
that  in  most  of  the  States  the  laws  are  printed  by 
authority  in  the  newspapers,  and  their  dissemina- 


tion  in  the  State  should  be  afforded  as  cheaply  as 
possible. 

I  do  not  wish  to  embarrass  the  country  press  in 
its  cix-culatipn,  for  I  have  seventeen  country  papers 
in  my  district,  and  desire  to  see  them  all  prosper; 
and  my  opinion  is,  that  a  free  circulation  in  the 
counties  in  which  they  are  published  will  not  tend 
to  increase  their  circulation;  for  I  do  not  know  of 
a  man  in  my  district  who  would  decline  taking  a 
newspaper  any  the  sooner  because  he  had  to  pay 
twenty-six  cents  a  year  for  it.  And  then,  again, 
the  newspapers  in  my  country  are  very  strongly 
inclined  to  free  trade,  and  a  free-trade  article  would 
not  look  very  well  along  side  of  an  article  advoca¬ 
ting  a  patent  to  monopolize,  bylaw  of  Congress, 
the  right  to  furnish  news  to  any  particular  portion 
of  the  people.  It  would  look  a  little  like  legislation 
for  one  class  of  citizens  to  the  injury  of  others. 
They  now  receive  all  their  papers  free,  and  should 
be,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will  be,  satisfied,  without 
being  authorized  to  send  theirs  free  to  their  subscri¬ 
bers.  My  constituents  are  not  paupers,  and  are  not 
so  insensible  to  the  principles  of  justice  as  to  desire 
this  Government,  or  any  body  else,  to  work  for  them 
for  nothing.  They  know  that  the  Post  Office  De¬ 
partment  must  be  sustained,  and  they  are  willing 
to  contribute  to  its  support.  However,  thi^  is  a 
question  that  1  am  not  strenuous  about,  if  the  com¬ 
mittee  see  fit  to  adopt  such  an  amendment  to  the 
bill.  One  of  my  colleagues  is  a  little  surprised,  he 
says,  that  I  should  have  been  wrought  upon  by 
these  outside  influences,  and  against  the  interests 
of  the  people  I  represent,  to  advocate  the  reduction 
of  postage.  I  have  always  been  the  advocate  of 
low  postage.  It  is  no  new  thing  with  me.  I  be¬ 
lieve  my  constituents  are  also,  and  if  that  gentle¬ 
man’s  are  not,  I  mistake  their  sentiments  very 
much.  There  are  some  gentlemen  upon  this  floor 
who  are  afraid  of  innovation,  of  reform,  or  change. 
They  are  in  favor  of  ancient  usages  and  customs. 
The  gentleman  from  Indiana  [Mr.  Dunham]  is 
opposed,  to  copying  after  the  English  or  any  of  the 
old  hereditary  kingdoms  of  Europe.  The  gentle¬ 
man,  I  suppose,  distrusts  his  own  ability  to  dis¬ 
tinguish  the  good  from  the  bad,  and  would  there¬ 
fore  exclude  all.  The  remark  of  Voltaire  may  be 
well  applied  to  that  class:  “Our  Wretched  species 
is  such  that  those  who  walk  the  beaten  path,  are 
always  throwing  stones  at  those  who  are  recom¬ 
mending  new  ones.” 


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